3 Days Wildlife and Sightseeing Experience in Sandakan

Reviews

We had three nights here as part of our package, the rooms are very basic yet comfortable, food was fine, service was excellent. There is a water cooler in the main restaurant to enable you to fill your water bottles.
The main reason for your visit here is to see the flora & fauna along the banks of the Kinabatangan river by boat. We were lucky enough to have a boat pretty much to ourselves and our guide for the first day, then we were joined by another couple who unfortunately didn’t speak English and they shared our guide.
Cruising up and down the river and tributaries you get to see a huge amount of wildlife. We were lucky enough to see a lone Pygmy Elephant on the bank, apparently the heard had gone through several days earlier. The guides and boat drivers are very good at spotting and do their utmost to ensure that you have a pleasurable stay. We very much enjoyed our stay & seeing the extensive array of wildlife from crocodiles to hornbills to orangutan & many more, the king fishers are exquisite.
Be sure to bring walking boots and a good bug spray.

– Barders745, United Kingdom (TripAdvisor)

 

This is a beautiful jungle lodge accessible only by boat. We stayed 2 nights. Room was very comfortable and tastefully decorated. They even had sarongs for us to wear. Pleasant verandah out front to sit and watch monkeys, have your coffee. The AC exhaust fuels the hot water, quite ingenious. We did an evening and morning cruise, saw lots of wildlife including many bird species: hornbills, eagles, an owl, pigeon species, storks, sun-birds, bee-eaters, dollar birds and others. The guides were very adept at spotting animals. We also saw a monitor lizard, many proboscis monkeys, macaques, and even a flying lemur. Only minus about the place was the food. It is terrible. I told the boy three times that I am vegetarian and he kept bringing out plates of squid and ham. Vegetables were bland but fruit was good. I recommend bringing snacks. Also if possible rubber boots and insect repellent for the forest walk, though they did happen to have boots my size.

– W. Scott, Australia (TripAdvisor)

 

We stayed here as part of a trip a deal tour. The accommodation was clean and comfortable and food OK. We took 2 sunrise boat trips and 1 sunset boat trip. We saw lots of animals in the wild. Would recommend this for a 2 night stay. 

– B. Sue (TripAdvisor)

 

We spent three nights here and it’s location is fantastic. From the Lodge we went on three river cruises ( small boats with 6 – 8 POB) searching for monkey’s, crocs, birds, snakes and Pygmy Elephants. We managed to get 100’s of photo’s of everything apart from the Elephants which we only just missed. The accommodation is fairly basic, there is aircon from around 6am to 10pm and ceiling fans the rest of the time. We found this quite adequate and slept well. Our only criticism was the room was dusty and the towels had a real musty smell like they had been rolled up damp and had remained that way for some time. There is no TV so do have a book to read for relaxation times, each cottage has a verandah and outside seating where you can just chill out. The food is good and drinks (beer and wine) can be purchased. There isn’t a variety of wines, I think it was Chardonay only but your not really there for the wine are you.
Our boat Captain was great his ability to spot creatures from the boat was uncanny, and we have many great photo’s thanks to his expertise. There was also a road trip during the stay to visit Gomantang Caves, which was not a highlight and I have covered that in a separate review. Do keep you windows locked, the long tailed Macaques WILL get inside your room if you don’t. Overall, our stay at Borneo Nature Lodge was great and a genuine highlight of our Borneo trip.

– Timberbluemountain, Australia (TripAdvisor)

We stayed here for two nights during our Borneo Tour. We were 2 of a group of 23 and as there were only a few lodges we all had the place to ourselves.
The rooms were basic but comfortable. It is not the cleanest place I have stayed, but a little bit of dirt never hurt any one.
The food was the best I experienced during my whole time in Borneo. Breakfast was to die for. The biggest omelettes ever, all freshly cooked in front of you, hash browns, beans, bacon etc, fruit, toast and preserves, juice tea & coffee. Lunch was a soup, two or three choices of a main with rice and salad, fruit and desserts and similar in the evening.
As we were travelling as part of an escorted tour, three mini river cruises were included. Between us there were three motor boats which took us up and down the river in search of wildlife. We saw loads. Proboscis monkeys, long tailed monkeys, hornbills, egrits and eagles. We saw a couple of baby crocodiles and a big beastie. About 20 foot long. Didn’t get too close to that one. We were lucky enough to see an orang-utan in the wild, but it was high up in the trees and too far away for photos, But the unmistakable orange was there. The icing on the cake was the elephant. We had almost given up hope of seeing any. They were definitely there as we could smell them and hear them behind the trees crackling the branches as they moved about and they were trumpeting to each other. After about 20 min/30 min a baby displayed its trunk through the bushes, and then a bigger elephant swiped the baby back into trees and came out down to the river bank. It had a drink and munched on the reeds and sprayed water over itself. It was sooo good to see it in its natural environment I almost cried.
There was also a night walk and a night river cruise available at an extra cost. There was not much to do between cruises but it was nice just to sit out on the lodge terraces, or wander down to the jetty and do a bit of fishing with the boat boys. The boat boys did a brilliant job by the way.
I still can’t get over the fact that I was lucky enough to visit this place.
Thank you so much to all at the lodge 🙂 xxWe stayed here for two nights during our Borneo Tour. We were 2 of a group of 23 and as there were only a few lodges we all had the place to ourselves.
The rooms were basic but comfortable. It is not the cleanest place I have stayed, but a little bit of dirt never hurt any one.
The food was the best I experienced during my whole time in Borneo. Breakfast was to die for. The biggest omelettes ever, all freshly cooked in front of you, hash browns, beans, bacon etc, fruit, toast and preserves, juice tea & coffee. Lunch was a soup, two or three choices of a main with rice and salad, fruit and desserts and similar in the evening.
As we were travelling as part of an escorted tour, three mini river cruises were included. Between us there were three motor boats which took us up and down the river in search of wildlife. We saw loads. Proboscis monkeys, long tailed monkeys, hornbills, egrits and eagles. We saw a couple of baby crocodiles and a big beastie. About 20 foot long. Didn’t get too close to that one. We were lucky enough to see an orang-utan in the wild, but it was high up in the trees and too far away for photos, But the unmistakable orange was there. The icing on the cake was the elephant. We had almost given up hope of seeing any. They were definitely there as we could smell them and hear them behind the trees crackling the branches as they moved about and they were trumpeting to each other. After about 20 min/30 min a baby displayed its trunk through the bushes, and then a bigger elephant swiped the baby back into trees and came out down to the river bank. It had a drink and munched on the reeds and sprayed water over itself. It was sooo good to see it in its natural environment I almost cried.
There was also a night walk and a night river cruise available at an extra cost. There was not much to do between cruises but it was nice just to sit out on the lodge terraces, or wander down to the jetty and do a bit of fishing with the boat boys. The boat boys did a brilliant job by the way.
I still can’t get over the fact that I was lucky enough to visit this place.
Thank you so much to all at the lodge 🙂 xx

– P. Suzanne, United Kingdom (TripAdvisor)